


Going Under

by Ninjam117



Series: Role Play AU [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Blow Jobs, Conspireshipping, Deathshipping, Fantasy AU, M/M, Role play AU, Rough Sex, Tendershipping, Thiefshipping, eclipseshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-06-27 08:57:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19787566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjam117/pseuds/Ninjam117
Summary: A year after managing to escape the infernal realm, the four have journeyed far into a new land where they are hired on to help a prince and his brother. However, they find it to be a bit more than predicted. Healing after going to hell may take more time than expected, and it may cost them more this time around.





	1. Chapter 1

_With the two kingdoms united in an era of peace, the two lords of the lands stepped down as the rulers. With their lovers by their sides, they journeyed far throughout, beyond the borders into new lands._

_However, when their path crossed with those under the demon lord, one of their lovers was stolen back to the demonic realm. Through their enemies and obstacles, the three fought their way through the cursed lands until they were facing off against the dark lord itself._

_Despite their overpowering adversary, the three managed to find their missing lover and retreat back into the human realm, the shadows of the demon far behind them. They continue to journey throughout the lands._

_However..._

~*~*~*~

The sun was blazing overhead, filing the skies with blue. The nearby trees lightly shifted through the gentle breeze. The occasional sound of metal clashing would ring through the calm.

“C’mon Marik! Are you tired already?”

Marik felt his knees wanting to buckle, both his arms sore from swinging his blades for the past couple of minutes. Kek stood in front of him, his own blade in hand as he barely broke a sweat. Marik took a few more breaths before charging again. 

Kek blocked and side stepped him. Before Marik could catch his footing, Kek knocked the back of his knees and he fell forward with a yelp. The back of his shirt was caught right before he hit the ground, the sound of Kek’s sword digging into the dirt resounding.

Laughing came from the sidelines.

“You must be getting out of practice there my lord!” Bakura shouted, his head laying against Ryo’s lap as they sat beneath one of the many oak trees, “Maybe you should quit while you’re ahead!”

Marik frowned, glancing up to Kek. The other let him plop to the ground, raising his hand. 

“It’s easy for you to say. Get your lazy butt out here!” Marik said, leaning on his hand and not bothering to get back up. Bakura fiddled with the ends of Ryo’s braid, ignoring the blonde.

“You _were_ the reason why we had to hitch a ride with that caravan through the desert,” Kek said, drawing his blade up from the ground and swinging it slightly, “Plus you could use some more work on your aim thief.”

Bakura laughed again, “My aim is just fine. And it wasn’t like we were missing much in riding through the boring dusty desert.”

Ryo brushed his fingers through Bakura’s silvery locks. Bakura glanced up at the unicorn before snorting.

“Yeah I know. I guess everything would be boring after living for this long,” he said, finally sitting up. He brushed out the flowers that Ryo had been dropping in his hair before stretching his arms out. Kek let out a scoff.

“What do you mean? Just last week you were going on about how amazing that there was striped corn in these parts.”

Bakura sneered a little, taking his dagger out, “That’s ‘cause I didn’t know it tasted any different! Anyway, aren’t you even tired yet?”

Kek flexed his fingers around his blade’s handle with a smirk. Marik walked over and took Bakura’s place next to Ryo as the other two circled carefully around each other before Bakura charged forward. Marik let out a sigh, reaching over and getting a deep drink from his canteen as he caught his breath. 

It had been almost a year since they had managed to escape the infernal realm, and yet it felt even further away than that. At least it seemed that way with how quickly Bakura bounced back. 

The thief never talked about what had taken place while he was trapped there with the dark lord, but none of them felt the need to press for details after their own experiences. And with how more human Bakura had become, their dealings with anything demonic was nothing but a bad memory. 

Marik sighed again as he leaned back against the tree, rubbing his chest slightly at the thought. There was ruffling before crumpled parchment moved in front of him. Marik glanced down and saw a honeycake atop it, Ryo smiling at him.

“N-No. Not hungry right now,” Marik said, “Besides. Kek bought it for you. You should eat it for yourself.”

Ryo frowned, and shrugged his shoulders before cramming the whole thing in his mouth. Marik grinned at him, eyes lingering on the faded marks on the unicorn’s throat. They weren’t as pronounced as they were before, barely visible at this point. 

Ryo must’ve noticed his staring, turning to Marik with a raised brow. Marik scoffed, leaning closer.

“You got syrup on you,” Marik said, leaning over and licking the side of Ryo’s mouth. Ryo blushed before sheepishly smiling. He twisted one of Marik’s blonde locks between his fingers.

“You two better not be making out without me!” Bakura exclaimed before getting slammed into the ground by Kek. The assassin smirked above him, sheathing his blade before dragging Bakura back up by his cloak.

“What’s wrong? Don’t want to top tonight? Or are you just being lazy again?” He said, setting Bakura down as the thief pouted. Bakura batted his hand away before straightening himself a bit.

“As much as I’d like to try, I hardly think there’s much of a point in training when we have Ryo around,” Bakura said, “Besides, if our last job was any indication to what’s ahead, I doubt we’ll get anything tougher than escort work. Not that we really _need_ to work.”

Marik stood, not wanting to cramp up, “Maybe so, but the last thing we need is you getting out of shape and slowing us down.”

“Why? I can have Ryo carry me.”

“Now you’re just being a leech,” Kek said, tugging Bakura’s hood down his face. Bakura fumbled with the tan fabric before leering at them.

“Jeez. No need to gang up on me,” he said, “Ryo, can you at least back me up a little?”

“…”

“Ryo?”

They all turned to the unicorn, who was staring up. He pointed towards the sky.

“… _There_...” he said faintly.

The three followed his line of sight. The clouds were stretching far across the horizon. Faintly, there was a flash of something dark in the distance.

“What’s that?” Marik said, squinting a bit.

“What’s what?” Kek asked.

“That,” Marik said pointing up into the sky, “It looks like a huge bird.”

He watched the black spot in the sky. It was definitely a flying creature of some sort, with large wings flapping closer.

“I don’t see it,” Bakura said, then turned on his heel, “Anyway. We should probably get a move on. The last thing we need is to run into some desperate thieves wanting a quick catch. I heard there are quite a few muggings on this route-”

“Someone’s chasing it.”

Bakura and Kek turned to Marik, who’s eyes were narrowed as he squinted.

“Huh?”

“I can’t quite tell from here, but I think I can see arrows,” Marik said, “Or maybe spears? How big is it?”

He reached into his bag, taking out his enhancing glass. He held up the slender, cylindrical shard, watching as it honed in on the distant image.

“It… Looks like a dragon of some sort,” he said, “It must be getting chased by people. There are arrows trying to hit it.”

Ryo stood up quickly, eyes wide as he tugged at Kek’s cloak.

“Don’t worry. It’s too high to hit,” Kek said, draping his arm on Ryo’s shoulders, “It’s heading this way. We should probably leave if people are trying to hunt it down-“

“Ah!” Marik let out a gasp, “It’s got someone!”

“What?” Bakura said, raising a brow as he squinted up at the approaching creature, who’s wings were in clearer view, “Dragons don’t just pick people up for no reason. Maybe it’s trained.”

“You sure about that?” Marik said, pocketing his glass, “It doesn’t look like it’s marked. It has to be wild.”

“Then whoever bothered it probably deserves to get eaten,” Kek sniffed, “Let’s hurry up and get a move on- what?”

Ryo clung to Kek’s cloak, lips drawn into a frown. Kek rolled his eyes.

“How would we even help them? It’s not like Bakura can fly up there anymore.”

“Don’t remind me,” the thief wrinkled his nose. Ryo glared at the blonde.

“Well. If we’re gonna do something, it better be soon,” Marik said, pointing up, “It’s almost over us, but I doubt it’s going to-”

Ryo ran up to the nearest tree and uprooted it in one heave. He shifted it slightly before hurling it up into the air. The three watched as it went sailing up to the sky.

The dragon saw, halting before the tree could hit it fully. Marik let out a gasp, watching as the person it held was dropped down. 

“Oh geez,” Kek cringed, “Can’t really say we helped if they’re dead.”

“At least they won’t be eaten by the dragon,” Marik shrugged, the two running into the woods as Ryo hurried ahead.

“Wait. We’re not getting involved are we?” Bakura shouted after them, “We can’t start doing things for free!”

Marik ignored him, instead focusing on making it through the thickets and brambles along the path. Now that they were traveling more within the mountainous area, the foliage was getting more harsh. Although it would never be as bad as it was traveling in the wastelands of the infernal realm. Compared to that this was practically a casual stroll.

Only after a few minutes did they stumble upon the person, who was hanging unconscious from the top of one of the trees.

“Well. At least there’s a body,” Kek said. Ryo elbowed his side.

“Hey! Can you hear us?!” Marik called out. They heard a small groan. Marik let out a sigh.

“Well. That’s a good sign,” he said, “Where’s Bakura?”

The three turned around, hearing loud stumbling through the bushes followed by cursing.

“Okay. So I might need to run an extra mile or two,” Bakura huffed, tugging his cloak from one of the brambles, “Can we leave now? I think we’ve done enough for one day-“

Suddenly, the wind drew up all around them. Marik felt himself being picked up by the gust. Ryo grabbed his hand and kept him close to the ground. Marik looked over to see branches and leaves being tossed in the air before something large swooped down towards them.

As soon as the wind calmed he quickly looked around at the cleared out trees, a clear imprint of whatever just came down.

“What was-“

“Up there!” Kek exclaimed. Marik and Ryo both looked up, gasping to see how big the dragon was now that it was practically on top of them. It was easily the size of two houses, but from what he could recall about the creatures, Marik could tell that it was an adolescent, its rough scales growing in patches of bronze and black. The dragon flew back around in a wide circle. 

Marik gasped, seeing Bakura caught in one of its claws, its other outstretched as it prepared to come back down at them.

~*~*~*~

When he was scooped up by the dragon, Bakura was a _little_ surprised by its presence. While they had fought against various creatures as they traveled, they had yet to run into a winged beast of this caliber. Still, Bakura wasn’t about to be beat by some overgrown lizard.

“Sorry, but you’re small fry from where I’m from,” he growled, managing to squeeze his arm free and grab his dagger. There were thick scales along its leg that would probably be too tough to stab through. But its body was too far to reach with his freed arm. There had to be a weak spot somewhere.

The dragon roared out, turning to go back around and sweep down again. Despite the nauseating feeling, Bakura was able to see a bare spot on the dragon’s thigh. He stopped just as he was about to stab at it.

… Claw marks?

The dragon suddenly halted, Bakura being jerked in its hold and nearly dropped his blade. He looked down and saw Marik being hurled up towards them by Ryo. Within seconds Marik’s blade was slicing through the dragon’s wing. 

It howled out an ear piercing shriek. Bakura felt its grasp loosen before they started dropping to the ground.

“Bakura!” Marik shouted, reaching out towards him. Bakura twisted in the air. The two managed to grasp each other’s arms.

Marik clung to his back as the thief blasted flames down from his hands. Their fall was softened immensely, though they both roughly landed against the fallen trees and bushes.

The two steadied themselves, watching the dragon arise from the trees as well. It growled towards them, easily towering over the pair even as it lunged low.

From the corner of his eye, Bakura saw Ryo edging closer towards the dragon from its side. The unicorn’s eyes glanced about the beast's body as he got close.

The dragon turned towards his presence, Ryo halting immediately. The creature tensed, inhaling deeply as its chest puffed. A flurry of fire burst forward. 

Kek threw Ryo over his shoulder and bolted out of the way of the ensuing fire. He slid to halt a few feet away from the other two.

“Don’t bother trying to help it,” Kek said roughly as he set Ryo down, “It’s obviously not that hurt.”

“Yet,” Bakura corrected, watching as the beast turned around towards the four before roaring at them. Ryo tugged at Marik’s arm.

“Alright alright! We won’t kill it,” he said, “Get it to settle down first-“

“Look out!”

Bakura dragged Marik and Kek down as the dragon’s tail came swinging at them. It hit Ryo’s side as he grasped on. His heels dug into the ground before coming to a stop.

As the dragon tried to tug its tail free, Kek threw a trail of knives under the dragon in one swoop, “Marik! Go!”

Marik flipped through a small journal he kept of old spells, eventually stopping on a stunning spell. He chanted quickly, feeling sparks on his fingertips.

The dragon spotted them, its chest expanding again. Bakura jumped in front of them as it let out another blast of fire. The thief’s hand swept the flames away into the air as they burst into black smoke. 

Marik used the opportunity to target the daggers, sparks dancing between the metal as they struck the dragon’s underside. They watched as it continued for a few seconds.

The dragon yowled out, its movements jerking wildly. It hunched down towards the ground, but its eyes were still wide as it strained to see them.

“No good. We need something stronger,” Kek said. Marik nodded, watching as Ryo twisted the dragon’s tail until it was forced onto its side. Its movements started to slow, already feeling the effects of Ryo’s magic so closely.

Marik switched gears, instead focusing his energy on a sleeping spell. His palms lit up in a blue glow as the dragon’s motions slowed. 

It managed to wrench its tail free from Ryo’s grasp, swinging it hard at Marik. Kek brought up the blunt side of his sword. The dragon’s tail was deflected, though the assassin was nearly knocked off his feet.

Luckily that was enough, the dragon dropped completely to the ground in a resounding thud.

Ryo shook his arms out as the cuts from the beast’s scales healed over before running over to heal the dragon’s wing. Marik staggered slightly when he took a step forward. Kek steadied him for a moment as the other caught his breath.

“Seems like it’s a hybrid of some sort,” Bakura said as he hopped atop its leg and wandered up its body.

“Bakura get off of the dragon,” Marik said aloud, “I don’t have the energy to try and subdue it again. And I doubt Ryo can heal you if it bites your head off.”

Bakura huffed, flopping into Ryo’s arms. Ryo snorted before dumping him at Marik’s feet.

“Anyway,” Bakura said, lying on his back, “We ought to get going before it wakes up. Wouldn’t want it tailing us.”

Before they could move, there was a loud shriek in the woods. The four exchanged looks before running towards the noise.

Above in the trees, the one who was dropped by the dragon had awoken. From the look of it, it appeared to be some young boy. Bakura could see the image of a dragon on the front of his livery as he flailed his arms about.

“Wh-Where am I?! Who are you people?!” The boy yelled, not ceasing his struggling. None of them bothered to move or respond, “W-Where’s the dragon?!”

“Not here that’s for sure,” Marik said eventually, crossing his arms, “And what was some kid doing with a dragon like that?”

The boy’s cheeks grew red, “I-I’m not just a kid! And I _order_ you to get me down!”

“I say we just leave him. Seems like more trouble,” Bakura said as they huddled together. The other three exchanged looks before also nodding. 

Unfortunately for them, the branch caught in the kid’s cloak broke in that moment. He shrieked as he dropped to the ground hard.

“Owww…” he grumbled, looking up to them hazily, “You… None of you are from around here are you.”

“What makes you say that?” Marik asked.

“You all look kinda-“

“Young lord!”

They all looked up, seeing a soldier stumbling through the bushes and trees towards them. He panted, shifting his armor as he stood to catch his breath.

“M-My lord! I’m so glad you’re safe!” The soldier said, “When the dragon got away we thought the worst… Thank the gods you are alright!”

“I’m fine Isono,” the boy said, finally getting up. He stood a foot shorter than Bakura, his clothes still clean despite crashing through the trees. He had long black hair that was pulled back, though most of it was now sticking wildly about. But that didn’t hide the thin, pale blue marks on his face that seemed to shimmer.

“Who are these people?” The soldier asked.

“Ignore them. They were no help,” the boy dismissed, waving his hand. He flinched immediately, cradling his arm.

“Hey! We just saved your sorry ass from that dragon!” Bakura shouted, “And we probably should’ve let it with how ungrateful you are brat!”

The boy huffed, turning around and standing taller despite his injury.

“I’ll have you know that you’re speaking to Mokuba Kaiba, second in line for the throne!” He said, nose in the air, “And you peasants better appreciate that you are in my presence-ah!”

Immediately, Mokuba shrank back as he continued to hold his arm. The soldier came to his side.

“Young lord. We should get you back to palace. The healers can take care of-“

“Not yet Isono!” Mokuba said, gritting his teeth, “We still need to get that dragon!”

“Clearly you’re one of those spoiled royalty types,” Bakura said, wrinkling his nose, “What. Was it your pet or something?”

“Why? Did you do something to it?” The prince hissed out, “It doesn’t concern you people-”

“What the young lord means to say, is that it would be appreciated if you could point us towards its direction,” the guard said, helping Mokuba to his feet.

Ryo tugged at Marik’s arm. The two exchanged looks before Marik responded.

“Were you trying to hunt it? And what’re you planning on doing with it?”

“The last thing we need is for it to be hurt,” the guard said, then paused, “We only pursued it the way that we did because it had grown violent suddenly.”

“P-Please,” Mokuba muttered, “This is… It’s very important that we find it.”

The four looked to each other. Both Bakura and Kek looked away, obviously wanting to leave. Marik folded his arms together in thought before nodding.

“Fine. But if it attacks again that’s on you,” he said. They walked back towards the clearing, but stayed a good distance away. The prince continued to curse under his breath as he held his arm.

Marik turned back around and stuck his thumb towards the dragon’s direction, “It’s back that way. It should still be sleeping when you come across it.”

The guard nodded, “We thank you. Come along young lord. We’ll take you to the healers before we-“

Ryo stepped forward, waving the guard away somewhat before crouching down. He took a hold of Mokuba’s arm as a soft glow appeared between his palms. Only after a few seconds did Ryo stand up and step back. 

Mokuba blinked a few times, flexing his arm out.

“A-Amazing!” The solider said, “Not even our strongest healers can do that so quickly!”

“I bet you’re part elf right? That’s gotta be it,” Mokuba said, “I bet you’re all coming from the village over in the southern glades.”

“Not quite,” Bakura scoffed under his breath, “I doubt elven magic could come close to unicorn magic.”

“Unicorn magic? Wait. You’re a unicorn?” Mokuba asked with a baffled expression, “But… You’re not.”

He made a motion with his hands. Ryo shrugged his shoulders.

“After that dragon, how are you even surprised?” Marik scoffed. Mokuba’s smile grew even bigger, though his cheeks grew red.

“Wow. I guess you’re right,” he said bashfully, rubbing his arm a moment more, “Well. Wasn’t expecting this all in one day. But in that case.”

He whistled loudly.

The trees and bushes shifted all around them. Ryo turned towards his left, only for Kek to yank him back as something went whistling through the air. Whatever it was struck the ground just a foot away.

Bakura growled under his breath, unsheathing his blade. From the trees and bushes he could see the glint of metal aimed at them from every direction. He cursed under his breath, remembering the barrage of arrows that had been aimed at the dragon from earlier, and realized who they had probably come from.

Mokuba stepped forward, grin twisting into a smirk as his eyes stayed on Ryo.

“Well. If it is true, unicorn. You’re gonna have to come with us.”

The four backed away, staying in a tight circle as the soldiers shifted all around them.

“Nice one Bakura,” Marik sighed, “Couldn't just keep your mouth shut.”

“Hey give me a break! I thought it was just the two of them,” Bakura said, “Besides. You should be yelling at the assassin for letting these guys sneak up on us.”

Bakura glanced at Kek when he didn’t respond. He inhaled sharply, seeing the intense look in Kek’s eyes as he honed in on the brat smirking from behind his guard.

“Isono. Bring me the unicorn,” Mokuba ordered. The guard nodded.

“You heard his majesty. Ignore the others! Capture the young man with white hair and silver markings!”

A shower of arrows descended upon them.

Bakura snapped his fingers, flames danced in the air like a tornado. The arrows were reduced to ashes.

There was a humming noise before something moved in the air. Bakura’s eyes darted about, hearing the sound of wings. To his surprise, it wasn’t the dragon, but the soldiers, wings spreading from their backs as they soared above the flurry of fire.

“They’re… Flying?”

He felt a cold sweat going down his brow. Humans couldn’t fly. The only way that they could was if they made a deal with _it_.

“Bakura!”

Marik jumped in front, deflecting a round of arrows that were shot at him. The blonde glanced back at him. Bakura quickly took Marik's arm.

“Marik… They’re-“

“Whatever they are we’ll worry about later,” Marik said, “We need to get out of here first."

He glanced to the other two, Bakura keeping his gaze low. 

“Kek! Clear a path to the left! Ryo, get us some cover!”

The flames started to die down. Ryo threw his hands up, a light going up and flashing. Bakura covered his eyes, hearing the soldiers shouting as they were blinded. When he looked up, they were all standing and rubbing at their faces. The ones in the air had started to descend from the flash. Looking closer, he realized that there weren’t really wings on their backs, but rather metal that looked like wings.

Grunting came to his side. Kek had already shoved six soldiers out of the way and was now waving to them.

“Hurry up!” 

With a path now clear, the four started to flee into the woods. At least if they were shadowed by the forest they could avoid the flying soldiers before-

Suddenly, there was a whirring noise followed by the sound of a thud. Bakura quickly turned and saw that one of the soldiers had thrown a bola at Ryo and successfully caught his legs. Another soldier jumped and shot three darts at the fallen unicorn.

As soon as they hit it immediately became obvious that something was wrong with how Ryo’s strained voice cracked before he collapsed fully on the ground.

Before he or Malik could move, Bakura felt Kek rush past the two of them. Blood arced through the air as the assassin went through the nearest guards and straight for the prince.

“H-hurry! Protect the young lord!”

“Bakura!” Marik exclaimed, ignoring the guards who were now targeting Kek. Bakura followed suit, throwing his dagger at the feet of one of the guards approaching Ryo. Bakura leapt and kicked them in the face before retrieving his blade.

Marik slid to his knees, flinching as his hands hovered over the bindings on Ryo’s legs. Bakura turned to shout at Marik to hurry but stopped when he saw how the rope burned into Ryo’s skin and how unresponsive he was. 

“Bakura I think it’s-” Marik flinched when two darts struck his arm.

“Marik!” Bakura called out, avoiding a round of darts that were thrown at him. Marik pulled them free, staring for a moment before gasping. He quickly pulled the ones from Ryo’s side and sliced away the ropes around Ryo’s legs.

Bakura kicked away more soldiers, edging back as the archers took aim.

“Marik now! We have to go”

“Hold your fire!”

They all halted. Bakura turned to see Kek atop the prince’s personal guard, his blade poised to cut his head off. Mokuba stood a foot away, his posture just as steady despite the immediate danger.

Kek’s wide eyed gaze stayed on him, “Well? Are you going to call off your guards?”

Mokuba frowned, eventually nodding to the soldiers. They backed off somewhat, though Bakura edged closer to Marik, who tried to shield Ryo’s shaking form in his arms.

“Did you think it’d be that easy?” Kek growled, not moving away, “If you’re so callous as to try and hurt Ryo then we should’ve let that beast eat you!”

Mokuba wince somewhat, but steadied himself, “I’m not trying to hurt the unicorn, I just need it to-“

“Your tools say otherwise!” Bakura shouted, grabbing and burning the rope and darts in his hand, “I doubt you use rowan rope and oil under normal circumstances!”

Mokuba clicked his tongue, and glanced over to Kek. The blonde’s hand was visibly shaking as he still held his sword over the guard. But his eyes stayed strained on Mokuba.

The young prince motioned with his hand. The guards backed away entirely. Bakura breathed a bit, but stayed alert. He stole a glance at Marik, who had taken out his water canteen and started rinsing the oil from Ryo’s legs.

Bakura crouched down. He cradled Ryo’s face in his hands. The unicorn looked up at him in a daze.

“… _Ku-ra_.”

“It’s alright. We’ve got you.”

Once most of the oil was gone, the burns started to fade away. Despite that, Bakura knew well enough from their previous encounters with hunters that it would take more time for Ryo to regain his strength.

Bakura scooped Ryo into his arms before looking up to Marik, “Go get Kek. We’re fine here.”

Marik nodded, his face pale. He walked over to where Kek was, easing him away from the guard and backed away. Mokuba’s hands were balled up into fists as he grit his teeth.

“… Wait!”

Marik ignored him, and kept his arm wrapped around Kek’s waist, knowing that it was the only thing keeping the assassin from slaughtering everyone there.

“Please! I-I just… There’s someone that…” Mokuba stammered, “I can pay you! I’ll buy the unicorn from-“

A knife flew through the air, narrowly missing Mokuba’s throat and slicing his skin. He winced as his guard quickly got up.

“Young lord!”

“That was a warning!” Kek exclaimed, “I don’t always miss on purpose!”

Marik tugged him away more. Bakura glanced around before creeping away, knowing that the last thing they needed was to stay any longer than they needed to. He didn’t even bother to look back, only focusing on getting as far away from there as possible-

Bakura stopped. He could feel tension building in the air. The hair on his neck standing up.

And from that tension, Bakura could faintly hear the creaking of wood coming closer. He turned towards the sounds, his body immediately reacting and flinching back towards the safety of the tree line.

Sure enough, the dragon had awoken, and was now eyeing the crowd of soldiers.

Instead of a roar, it let out a flurry of fire down at them all.

~*~*~*~

“Look out!” 

Both Kek and Marik went tumbling out of the way as the fire flew overhead. Its heat could be felt even from the safe distance that they had fallen. Kek immediately darted back up, searching the dying embers for any sign of Bakura and Ryo. 

A few of the soldiers had been hit and were now fleeing as they screamed. The ones remaining kept cover up for those running as the dragon took a steaming breath and a earth shaking step forward. Kek exhaled a bit when he saw Bakura above in the tree tops with Ryo on his back.

“Uh oh,” Marik breathed as he got back to his feet.

“Uh oh is right. I thought you had that thing!” Kek said. Marik flinched back a bit.

“Well. I’d like to see you try and subdue a dragon Mr. Has-no-magic! Ah!”

Kek grabbed a hold of Marik just as the dragon’s tail came swinging at them. He retreated up into the trees as well, watching as the dragon got distracted by the other soldiers. Marik twisted in his hold.

“H-hold on! Where are you-“

“We gotta get out of here. It’s their problem now!” Kek said, stopping when the dragon let out another burst of fire out. He spotted Bakura, who hadn’t budged. The thief glanced about until he saw them.

“We can’t just leave them all behind!” Marik exclaimed, managing to wiggle out of Kek’s grasp before jumping down from the trees.

“W-Marik get back here!”

Marik took out his blades before running up and deflecting the dragon’s claws from slicing through a group of soldiers. 

Bakura saw and darted after him. Kek cursed to himself, giving a glance toward Ryo, who was still out of it, before running after the two.

The dragon saw and let out another burst of fire. This one was much smaller, Bakura easily deflecting it away up into the air. When it swiped at the thief, Kek grabbed and threw Bakura back before slicing through the creature’s claws.

“Marik! Gets its talons!” Kek shouted as he leapt over the dragon’s tail. He didn’t bother to wait for Marik to respond, batting the dragon’s claws away again.

There was a whistle in the air. Kek saw the soldiers fly higher before a large metal net came bearing down on the dragon in a flash of smoke. The beast tried to move, finding it impossible as it wiggled along the ground.

Kek took a breath, feeling Bakura come up to his side. The two stared as the soldiers started to subdue the dragon. Up close, they could see how there was some sort of metal pack on their backs where their wings retreated back inside as they landed in a flash of magic. Darts struck the dragon as it roared and flopped over against the ground fully. The two continued to creep backwards as the chaos started to settle.

There was a whistling noise before something slammed into Kek’s back. He hit the ground hard, Bakura falling next to him. It only took a split second to see that it was another net, albeit smaller, that had landed on the two. Kek forced it up as much as he could, but it hardly budged.

“Bakura! Kek!” Marik called out. He only took two steps towards them before bolas were thrown against his arms and legs. Bakura started to kick up against the netting as Marik fell to the ground.

“Let us out you brat! We just saved your ass twice!” Bakura shouted.

“Maybe so. But you weren’t exactly jumping at my offer,” the prince said with a smug look as he leaned down at them, “Anyway. Isono, get them to load up the dragon. And retrieve the unicorn. After all. I need to repay the favor I suppose.”

Kek growled, immediately rising up enough to grab a hold of the prince’s shirt and drag him down. The other soldiers flinched and grabbed the hilts of their swords.

“H-hold on,” the leading soldier commanded. Kek stayed focused on the prince who didn’t try to escape despite the look of terror in his eyes.

“I- Look I won’t try anything!” He said, “You can keep your unicorn! Fuck, you can even all come along! I just need it to look over someone really fast!”

Kek stared into his eyes, trying to find any indication of lies. He mostly saw fear, but no cowardice. He could feel Bakura and Marik’s gazes on him.

“Know this,” he hissed lowly, dragging the prince close, “If you so much as even think about pulling something, it’ll be the last thought you’ll have before I gouge out that lying tongue of yours and make you choke on it!”

~*~*~*~

He could faintly hear voices around. For the most part Ryo had been semi conscious for the whole ordeal. But with any contact with rowan wood, his energy naturally drained away, leaving his body unable to move. Knowing that he was in good hands, he allowed himself to fall asleep knowing that the three would keep him safe.

After what was probably a few hours, Ryo finally felt his strength return. The cold burning sensation was faint on his legs. He blinked a few times, realizing he was staring up at a ceiling instead of the forest.

He rose up on his hands, feeling soft cushions below his touch. He raised a brow, seeing soft silks and veils around the bed, which was easily four times his size.

Ryo wandered over to the edge, parting the translucent curtains to see a large circular room adorned in gold and silver with deep blue carpets and tapestries. There were tall windows along the wall, though the glass was frosted over, three wood doors on the other side.

“Ah. Ryo!”

He blinked before being scooped up in a hug. He sighed into Marik’s hold before seeing the other two come over. Kek immediately pressed his lips to Ryo’s.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” he said, holding Ryo’s cheek. Ryo held his hand before glancing around when they parted, feeling the faint trace of magic around them.

“Yeah it’s enchanted,” Bakura confirmed, “the little brat figured this was better than throwing us in with the dragon. Looked like a little cart from the outside.”

Ryo raised a brow as the thief wandered off to a pile of gold coins. Bakura plopped on top, picking through a few trinkets.

“Basically we’re his prisoners. Feh. Better than any prison I’ve been in.”

“Nice or not. We still need to get out of here,” Kek said, running his hand through Ryo’s hair as he looked around, “I don’t like this. Can’t even tell where we’re heading.”

“Don’t worry,” Bakura waved off, “I knew I saw the family crest before. It’s from some clan that tames dragons, though I honestly thought that they had died off since-“

Bakura stopped. The three stared at him as he had a blank look in his eyes. Bakura quickly shook it away before grinning again.

“Anyway,” he continued, “point is we have nothing to worry about. I doubt they’re any bigger than they were before.”

“I dunno. The last time you were around was when you were a demon. And before you met us. So it’s been a good century or so,” Marik said thoughtfully. Bakura made a noise.

“Gosh you make me sound old my liege,” he said sarcastically. Marik rolled his eyes before turning to Ryo.

“Do you feel better? Still tired?”

Before Ryo could respond his stomach growled loudly. He blushed hard, staring down at his feet.

“... _Hungry_...”

“Hold on, I think I still have some seed bread in my bag,” Marik said looking around. Before any of them could move, a short table had appeared in the center of the room. Assorted silver platters and fancy pots appeared, steam rising from them.

“Holy hell this place has everything!” Bakura said crawling up to it. Marik hurried over and grabbed his wrist.

“Hold it there. What if it’s poisoned?”

Bakura rolled his eyes, “Like they’d poison their captives. That’s just a waste.”

Ryo wandered over, keeping his hand in Kek’s. The smell of spices and salt rose in the air. He opened one of the lids to see sizzling rice soup inside. There were other open platters of small breads and tea cakes, along with bottles of wine and water that seemed to glow. Bakura had already sat down, opened a pot, and was helping himself to the grilled fish.

“Really? You aren’t even gonna suspect it?” Marik asked. Bakura shrugged before gnawing on the fish.

Immediately he stopped, and started making a gagging noise. Marik grabbed a hold of his shirt and started shaking him before Bakura burst into laughter.

“Calm down! It’s fine!” Bakura snickered. Malik immediately grabbed a cushion and smacked it against his head.

“How is that you’re more annoying when you’re human?”

Ryo sat down on some of the cushions, beckoning Kek to follow. Kek frowned at him.

“Not really hungry,” he said, already looking around the room again. Ryo thought for a moment before bitting into a piece of fruit and pulling Kek down for a kiss. Kek blinked a few times before leaning closer and deepening it.

“Ok. Maybe just a little,” he said, sitting next to Ryo. The unicorn smiled before moving to sit between his legs.

Considering how much they had been traveling, being able to sit down and eat without having to worry about the cooking part was nice. Bakura was practically lying on the floor as he ate, both Marik and Kek laughing at him. Ryo found himself playing with the cushions and the rug more than once, finding the soft feeling irresistible. Constantly being on the move definitely made him appreciate this more.

Once everything was devoured and the platters disappeared with the table, Bakura rolled back over to his pile of gold.

“I really doubt he’s not going to notice you try and take all that considering how he hid it,” Marik said as he sat on the edge of the bed. Bakura played with a few gems before propping himself up on his hands.

“You’re forgetting that I carry the soul of the great thief king,” he said, “I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve to steal these away. Besides. The little brat prince said he’d compensate us for whatever it is he’s having us do.”

“I still don’t like it,” Kek grunted, his chin resting on the top of Ryo’s head, “He seemed too enthusiastic and prepared when we ran into him. This could be another ambush of some sort.”

Ryo pat his leg. Kek always relied on his instincts and was often the one steering them clear of danger. Although after their journey in the demonic realm, he never could relax. As much as he tried, Ryo could never get him to calm down completely...

“Even if it is, we could handle it,” Marik said laying back, “We’ve faced worse than a little runt and his entourage. He just caught us off guard is all. Besides. I think we could all use a break from lying in the woods.”

“You mean _you_ could use a break my liege,” Bakura snorted, pocketing a handful of gold bracelets. 

The thief paused for a moment before slinking over. His cloak pockets jingled with metal as he draped himself on the edge, staring at Marik. The blonde raised a brow.

“What?”

“Let’s fuck.”

Marik shot up from his spot. Ryo felt his cheeks get red again. Bakura shrugged his shoulders, kicking off his boots.

“The little tart did say that it would be at least a day before we got back to his palace. And we do have this.”

Bakura ran his hand over the silky sheets.

“Which is more than what we usually have. Why not?”

Ryo’s lips quirked at the thought, and he couldn’t help shifting in Kek’s lap when he felt the assassin react as well.

“And what if the little brat is watching?” Marik asked, lying back down as he crossed his legs.

“Then the little brat gets scarred for life,” Bakura said licking his lips, “Punishment for earlier.”

“Fuck it let’s do it,” Kek said, lifting Ryo with his one arm before tossing him on the bed next to Marik. He wound his fist into Bakura’s shirt and jerked the thief into a harsh kiss. Bakura smirked against his lips, shrugging off his coat and hiking his leg up onto Kek’s hip.

“Gods why did you have to feed him blushing melon,” Marik sighed. Ryo played with a bit of his hair as he gave a giddy smile.

“ _Fun_ ,” he said, undoing his belt before reaching over and sliding his hand around Marik’s jaw. The blond’s eye twitched, but it was obvious he was losing to his own urges the more Bakura and Kek moaned. Ryo closed his eyes as he pressed his lips against Marik’s. There was a tingling of spice as Marik started to use his tongue almost immediately.

“Ah... I guess it has been awhile,” Marik sighed against Ryo’s lips. He sat back up, slowly undoing his belts and toeing off his boots as Ryo slipped his top off. Marik paused as he stared briefly at Ryo’s exposed chest. 

The scar from the demon was still there, as was the one on Marik’s stomach.

On Ryo, his flesh was discolored like a regular scar, which was unusual for his body. Besides his natural silver and gold markings nothing could leave an imprint on Ryo’s body. And yet, even after a year the scar hadn’t faded at all. With Marik’s injury...

“Do you... Mind if I keep my undershirt on,” Marik said looking down with a wistful smile, “I know you like touching. But, maybe next time.”

Ryo blinked, and gave him a reassuring nod. Marik undid his purple top and dropped it on the floor. Next, he crawled on top of Ryo and resumed their kissing. Ryo hiked his leg up a little, feeling both their clothed erections grinding up against one another as they came to life. 

They were interrupted by a loud thud.

The two turned and saw Bakura and Kek on the floor.

“Fuck Kek! Don’t just drop me on the floor!” Bakura groaned, somehow already naked despite all their groping. Kek shrugged his shoulders, sitting up on the bed as he stripped off his shirt.

“Can’t help that you got a little chubby after this long,” he said, throwing his boots in Bakura’s direction. The thief growled, batting them away before leaping back on top of Kek and slamming him into the bed.

“I’m still skin and bones I hardly see how I’ve gained any weight!” Bakura hissed, biting at Kek’s neck. All Kek did was laugh at him before grabbing a fist full of Bakura’s hair.

“Maybe so, but there’s one thing I’m certain of,” he said, pulling Bakura up more, “you lost earlier. Time to pay up.”

Bakura growled, a smirk slowly appearing on his lips. He rolled over on his stomach, waving his backside in the air.

“Alright then. I’m ready to pay up.”

Kek yanked his pants off, his erection bouncing a bit as he crawled on the bed. Instead, he went over to Marik and Ryo. He swiftly turned Marik around so his back was pressed up against Ryo’s chest and started kissing him instead.

“H-Hey!” Bakura whined, “I thought you said you’d punish me!”

“But it wouldn’t be punishment if we did what you said,” Marik said as Ryo and Kek dotted his neck with kisses and harsh sucks, “calm down pet we’ll get to you.”

Bakura growled, hands fisting the sheets out of frustration. His cock was clearly throbbing at the rough foreplay, but he knew better than to try and argue with the three. Instead he laid back and folded his arms, trying his best not to get more aroused.

Kek pulled Marik up by his shirt, the two kissing loudly for their ‘captive audience’. Ryo crawled off to the side and started digging around for their potion of oil. It had been awhile since they found a good sorcerer who mixed it the right way. Luckily they always found one in the larger marketplaces.

Ryo eventually found their crystal purple bottle, currently filled with a particularly warming oil that made prepping extremely fast. He hurried back onto the bed, seeing Bakura twisting around as he watched the two blonde’s continue to make out. Marik’s hands were kneading all around Kek’s shoulders when Ryo pressed himself up against Marik’s back.

“Oh yeah. I lost too,” he groaned as Ryo pulled both their pants away, “Oh well. At least I get Ryo.”

“Not so fast there your highness,” Kek said, still holding Marik’s shirt, “You lost to me. And as the winner of all the training Ryo gets to pick who he tops.” 

Marik frowned, wincing when he felt Ryo prepping him. He glanced over his shoulder with flushed cheeks.

“I bet you’re gonna find a way to do all three of us at some point right?”

Ryo snorted, pecking Marik’s lips before turning him around. The unicorn stroked at Marik’s erection, watching the other sigh deeply. He flinched a little as Kek entered him, and fell against Ryo’s chest as he relaxed more. 

Once Kek started to set his pace, Ryo let Marik drop forward and crawled back over to Bakura.

“Oh good. At least you came to my rescue,” Bakura said, kissing Ryo ferociously. Ryo giggled against his mouth, easily picking the thief up and bringing him closer to the other two. Kek saw, wound his arm around Marik's shoulders, and pulled him up onto his knees. Marik’s cock bounced against his stomach, already leaking. 

Bakura kissed Marik twice before sinking lower. His hands ran over Marik’s hips before he started to lap at Marik’s erection. Kek’s pace had slowed enough for Bakura to start sucking Marik’s cock at his own speed. 

The thief let out a moan when Ryo started to prep him.

“Alright that’s not fair,” Kek said over Marik’s shoulder, “Bakura lost the entire session and still gets Ryo.”

Bakura smirked as he leered up at the two blondes, “what can I say-ah! I’m a greedy thief!”

Marik wound his hands into Bakura’s hair and tugged him forward.

“If you’re that greedy then I have something for that mouth of yours!” Marik grinned, his cheeks aflame. Bakura ran his tongue along Marik’s tip before fully taking him in his mouth. He couldn’t hold back his moan as Ryo started to press his cock into him.

Ryo sighed as he slid fully into the thief. He glided his palms along Bakura’s back, slowly setting his pace as Bakura moved his head up and down along Marik’s cock. Bakura's gagged pants were loud even as Marik started to moan more.

Both Kek and Ryo shifted their hips at a similar pace. Ryo could hear Kek’s grunts getting hoarser as his hips slammed against Marik. Ryo had to work himself into a frenzy as he felt Bakura relax a little too much. 

When he was a demon Bakura could easily keep up with Ryo’s slower pace. But now that he was human he tended to fall asleep in the middle of sex (and the last thing they needed was him choking on Marik’s dick in his sleep).

Marik bit back a cry, rutting himself in Bakura’s throat as he came. Bakura moaned a bit, some spit dribbling out the corner of his mouth. Kek shifted Marik back so he could finish, though he set Marik down on the bed and started to kiss him again.

“H-hey! Get back here!” Bakura drearily said, “I wasn’t finished!”

“Sorry Bakura. You know how much I like my fluffing,” Marik sighed as he sank more into the cushions, “maybe if you’re still awake we can bathe together.”

Ryo opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as he watched the two blondes, Kek finally gasping as he came. Ryo eventually stopped, his thumbs tracing circles against Bakura’s flesh.

Bakura turned around. He pulled Ryo into a brief kiss before smiling at him.

“I know you like getting fluffed too,” he said, “though I bet that wasn’t what you were thinking about. C’mere.”

He pressed Ryo down into the cushions, kissing him deeply as his hand started toying their cocks together. Ryo gasped against Bakura’s lips, hiking his hips up into the other’s strokes. He wrapped his arms around Bakura’s neck. His toes curled into the sheets until they both spilled over onto Bakura’s hand and their stomachs. Bakura didn’t stop kissing Ryo the whole time.

Ryo let his eyes flutter shut, a curtain of warm light magic wafting the air from his ease. He struggled against the lethargic feeling, but felt Kek and Marik press up to his sides.

“Don’t worry,” Marik sighed, nuzzling into Ryo’s neck, “we can clean up in a few hours.”

Ryo blinked a few times, nodding even though he could feel the other’s already drifting off. He turned to his side, seeing Kek’s vivid lavender eyes staring at him. Kek brought his hand up, his thumb softly running against Ryo’s cheek. 

The unicorn smiled, finding himself falling back into the bliss of sleep. Still surrounded by the ones he loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...
> 
> ...
> 
> ...
> 
> Hewwo
> 
> I should say a few things.
> 
> First, this was originally going to just be a few bonus chapters for the end of the last fic to tie up a few things. Buuuuut real life happened in a good way and I had to put a majority of side projects actually to the side for the past year. And it also helped that time wise this makes more sense to post up to this point.  
> And since this is supposed to be an actual fic there's a lot more going on here that I realized should happen, but only after sitting on the previous fic's ending this long.  
> So far I'm aiming to have this wrapped up in a couple chapters but I doubt that'll happen and it'll inevitably be longer then expected.
> 
> Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a review/comment/heart/gays


	2. Chapter 2

_“And remember. If it’s a rapier, use it in a stabbing motion rather than a slicing one.”_

_He sighed as he took a hold of the handle again, the metal surprisingly light in his hand. He took his stance and went through the routine. The desert sands shifted below his feet, the sun high in the air. Hawks soared high above._

_“Not quite there Bakura. Try again,” the captain of the guard said, going through the motions again for him, “You’re putting too much weight on your back foot.”_

_“Why do I even need to learn sword play? Let Aria do it,” he mumbled. He grasped at the stolen armor he wore for practice, hating how big it was. The captain smacked the back of his ears._

_“No getting lazy! You know that your father wants you to take up his role as guardian of Diabound. Besides. Aria is off scouting in the lands to the south,” the captain said, walking across the entrance into the caverns below, “Now. Raise your blade. We’re doing it for real this time.”_

_Bakura grumbled, taking his sword in hand. The captain charged at him. He stumbled on his first step, but recovered quickly. He maneuvered around the captain, trying to keep on his toes as he parried the sword._

_He eventually stumbled when she swiped at his feet and he flinched. She didn’t hold back, kicking him in the chest and watching him fall against the ground._

_“Again Bakura! Get up!”_

_He held his side where pain radiated. He gripped the handle and eventually threw it back._

_“Screw this we’ve been at it all morning! Can’t I at least get something to eat?”_

_The captain, lifted her own helmet, tresses of white spilling out against her tunic._

_“You know that rations are low right now. Until the scouting party with your other sister gets back from the east this afternoon you’ll just have to cope with it.”_

_He frowned, feeling the emptiness in his gut claw at his stomach. He sighed before standing back up. He shifted the too big helmet he wore, not bothering to raise his blade up._

_The captain stood taller, then ran at him. She stopped her swing before it could strike at his face. He didn’t flinch, looking off to the side._

_She let out a sigh, standing back up. She reached into her pocket, throwing him a piece of bread._

_“Here. Eat. And once you’re done go see if Neferti is awake. Maybe she’ll be more interested in trying to hold Diabound.”_

_He stared down at the bread. He spotted some mold on the side. He hesitated to move._

_“What are you still doing here go do something else,” the captain waived off, “Go play with your friends. I know that’s all you’ve wanted to do ever since I dragged you away.”_

_He hesitated again, staring at the ground, “No. I can handle it. But this is a lot right now-“_

_“Clearly. You can’t help but miss everything before I took you away.”_

_“I don’t! I mean-yes. But- I- I want to do this! I just… I’m not able to yet. I’m not that strong.”_

_He looked up, letting out a scream as he jumped back._

_Flames had sprouted up around them, heating the already hot desert sands. The smoke clouded out the skies.He coughed against the suffocating fumes and ash that tore the air._

_Screams rang from behind. He quickly turned back towards the cavern where the city lay. The sound of metal clashing could be heard against the screams and laughter._

_His feet stumbled, nearly tripping as he dropped everything. A hand seized his wrist._

_He screamed again, turning to see the captain staring down at him. Her once white hair and tanned skin melted away, being replaced by dark molten acid that bubbled and burned his flesh._

**_“Why didn’t you come back for us?_ ** _”_

His eyes shot open.

For a moment he forgot where he was with light all around. The flashes of fire and smoke had faded too quickly, and he choked on his breath as everything came back into view.  


Bakura forced himself up to stay still as he ran his hands against the silk sheets. He focused on everything to root himself in this moment, trying to chase away the shadows of his nightmare. He could still smell Marik’s soap on him from the previous night.

Breathe.

There was shifting, and he turned to his right.

The veils around the bed were drawn back, the other three in view as they sat amongst some of the cushions. None of them had fully dressed, and seemed to be talking about a plan of some sort, Ryo leaning against Kek while Marik stood.

Bakura rose from his spot, wincing when he felt soreness along his backside. The three turned towards him.

“It’s about time you woke up,” Marik said, who was in the middle of tightening his belts. Bakura shifted, still feeling adrenaline coursing through his veins. He tugged the sheets off the bed with him as he walked over.

“Why can’t you ever keep the blankets on the bed?” Marik sighed.

“Doesn’t really matter considering the bed just cleans itself,” Bakura said, sitting down in his nest of sheets, “Besides, we might as well enjoy it considering how metal bars and stone cells is what’s probably waiting for us.”

Ryo visibly winced at the comment. Kek pulled the unicorn a little closer before glaring at Bakura.

The thief chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before sighing. Marik went over to some baskets on the side of the room, pulling out what looked like Bakura’s clothes from inside before flinging them at his head.

“Put your pants on,” he said, “Someone might show up soon.”

“You don’t know that,” Bakura said after tugging his top on anyway. He shrugged his cloak on, hearing the gold coins inside his pockets. After they had washed up the previous night, he stashed as much of the gold he could in the enchanted cloak. Yet, it still felt just a light on his thin frame. He suppressed a shudder at the scent of desert air.

“But it’s been almost a whole day,” Kek mumbled, “I’m surprised they didn’t bother to sneak in here.”

“They might be trying to keep the location were going to a secret,” Marik said, rubbing his fingers against one of the frosted glass windows. Kek let out a snort.

“Obviously you’re forgetting what it means to rule a kingdom. It needs to be noticeable for it to be successful. Especially if it’s the central point of the land. They’re probably just suspicious of us, being newcomers and all.”

Bakura tugged his pants on while rolling on the floor. He fiddled with his belt and dagger, testing its sharpness briefly before crawling back over. Ryo let out a little giggle.

The center door on the far side of the room opened, more sunlight pouring in. The soldier from before who seemed like the watcher of the brat prince came inside. (Isono if Bakura remembered correctly).

“We have arrived,” he said, holding a hand out towards the door, “If you would. The prince has already gone ahead.”

Kek’s fingers visibly tensed. Ryo grasped his hand, giving him a calm look. The assassin took a deep breath before slipping his shoes on and standing up. Ryo kept a hold of his hand, motioning for Bakura to follow. Marik strode by, dropping Bakura’s boots in his lap.

As soon as they all stepped out through the door, they were surrounded by the crisp cold air of the sea.

Bakura hung onto the frame of the door. At first he wasn’t sure where they were, but slowly it all started to come back. The last time he was here, the river that poured over into the ocean had barely caused an indent in the cliff. Now it practically engulfed it.

They stood on a ledge overlooking large waterfalls that draped along the cliffs in giant curtains. Far below were pools of water that slowly led into the sea that stretched beyond the horizon. A single piece of cliff jutted out from the center of the falls, dipping out as the only piece of land that stayed intact somehow. A palace of white stone sat on the edge of that cliff, some of it even coming out from the underside. 

Built on the side of the cliff were buildings of a city. Winged creatures flew all along it. Below were harbors lined with ships and more flying beasts.

Ryo started making a squeaking noise as he tugged at Kek’s arm.

“Yeah I see it,” he responded, tugging Ryo closer before ruffling his hair.

“Don’t you mean you _sea_ it?” Bakura grinned as he hopped out of the cart. Kek rolled his eyes.

“It has been a while since we’ve been somewhere with more water,” Marik said, taking a deep breath as he stretched his arms up, “Definitely a change from wastelands.”

“If you would,” the soldier said a few steps ahead of them, “there’s only two ways over to the capital. And I’m afraid I can’t carry you all over.”

“Why don’t you just use the-” Bakura started, pointing behind him to the cart they had exited out of. He stopped when he realized it was gone.

“There are certain wards around the palace. And the prince would prefer that you pass through them without the guard of our magic,” the soldier said, holding a small box that resembled the cart, “Now gather. There is one way in for travelers without the ability of flight.”

More curious than wanting to ask more questions, the four stepped over to the soldier. He made a motion with his hand, a sphere of light surrounding them before fading. Suddenly, it was as if something had yanked him up and Bakura found himself floating like he had before back when he was a demon. 

The group soared over the cliff, the pools of the waterfall and harbors far below. The whole time, Ryo was practically bouncing with energy as they made their way overhead towards the palace. Bakura couldn’t help but do cartwheels and front flips.

“Can’t you at least act like you’re thousands of years old,” Marik huffed. Bakura stuck his tongue out, only stopping when he realized how tense Marik had been. The blond kept his gaze higher, a look of annoyance on his face as he tried to stay still.

“What’s wrong Marik?” Bakura asked, going back to his spinning. Marik ignored him, nose twitching as he let out a grunt. It was only when they landed on a platform jutting out from the cliff outside the upper most part of the city did Marik let out a breath. Ryo started running towards the city with a big grin before Kek grabbed his waist.

“Not so fast there,” he said, “Don’t be so quick to run off in a place like this.”

“I’m afraid that is just something that comes from the land,” Isono explained, “As you can see many winged beasts come this way because of the rich sources of magic energy that surrounds this place. There are merfolk and other such creatures in the harbor as well, though I’m sure the young lord will explain it all to you in time.”

Bakura glanced about, unable to feel any difference in the air. He didn’t expect to, granted that he had no link to being demon anymore. He did faintly remember that was why he had to come here in the first place. However, back then it was more akin to feeling like his skin was crawling on its own-

“Bakura hurry up!” Marik said, already far ahead of them. Kek kept his and Ryo's arms locked together. When Ryo tried to tug free, Bakura ran over and hooked his arm into Ryo’s free one.

“Don’t be so hasty there,” Bakura said nuzzling the side of his face up against Ryo’s, “We gotta speak to the prince first. Remember?”

Ryo frowned at him, though Bakura could feel the energy radiating from the unicorn as they continued to walk. The thief had a suspicion it had to do with the magic probably being attuned to creatures. As they continued on into the streets of the upper level of the city, that became even more abundantly clear. 

There were bustling streets of various folk, many ranging in shapes and sizes of various beings. The inner streets were cramped with crowds, some flying overhead instead. Bakura nearly tripped over a gaggle of halfling children when he saw soldiers using the same metal packs from the previous day.

“Gods is it always this busy,” Bakura grumbled.

“This part is where most travelers come. We’re actually preparing for a festival,” the soldier said, but didn’t care to elaborate. Soon they were traveling up large, white stone steps towards a main gate. Many guards stood by, though they gave them no trouble. As soon as they passed through, Ryo stiffened a bit.

“Something wrong?” Kek asked. Ryo stood there, looking down at his clenching and unclenching hands. He turned and looked back down towards the city. Bakura let out a small ‘ah’.

“A barrier,” he said.

“It’s a necessary precaution,” the soldier said leading, “Don’t worry. It just manages the magic of the palace grounds to something more reasonable, you shouldn’t be affected. Now can we please hurry along?”

The palace was tall. The white stone spires trailed up into the sky, dragons flying above as if to enter and exit. Bakura noticed Kek’s hand twitching at every guard that caught notice of them. 

As they entered the large wooden doors, the group was met with a large brilliance hall of white, navy tapestries and carpets all around. The main hall went all the way to the top, sunlight shining through the various entry ways and windows and illuminating the crystal floors. Halls and balconies weaved through the sides of the grande hall, more winged people like the soldiers maneuvering through.

“Isono. There you are!”

Their attention was caught by the prince, flying down from one of the halls towards the front, crystal like wings sprouting from his back. They vanished beneath his cloak as soon as he landed. 

“I was expecting you ten minutes ago,” he said, hands on his hips, “They weren’t giving you trouble were they?”

“Of course not. It was just a bit crowded in town today,” the soldier responded, “My apologies young lord.”

“It’s fine. Anyway,” the prince waved off, eyeing their group, “Come along. We might as well get right down to business now that everything is prepared.”

The young lord started to march off towards a side corridor. Instead of up, they went down a staircase into more halls. The further they went the less amount of natural light came through, torches lighting the way instead.

“Pretty big place you have here,” Bakura said, glancing around every corner they passed, “Must have something special down here.”

Neither the guard nor the prince responded, keeping their pace the same. The guard did creep closer to the prince and to whisper something to him, though it wasn’t audible. When they turned a corner, Marik suddenly came to a stop.

“Something wrong?” Bakura asked.

Marik stared at the floor, his hand clenching his chest. He shook his head.

“N-no. It’s nothing,” he sighed, “Just. Just a feeling. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Despite that, Ryo went up to his side and took a hold of his hand. The unicorn gave a smile as he gently pulled Marik along. Kek and Bakura lingered behind them a bit, unconsciously taking guard to their lovers.

While Bakura had been here before, there had never been a castle of this size. Back then, it was a just a small band of dragon tamers trying to make a place of their own. Of course they ended up running into him and the other demons at the time. If there was one thing Bakura could say, it was that he was surprised that they managed to bounce back so successfully from that attack.

Then again, it had been over a millennia ago.

They rounded another corner, coming up to another pair of doors. However, Mokuba stopped them before they could start walking.

“Now before we continue on,” Mokuba said, then looked to Ryo, “Are… Are you really a unicorn? Before, in the woods confirms you’re not human. But. Can you. Are you able to heal _anyone_?”

Ryo threaded his fingers together before tapping his thumb together, “… _Yes…?”_

Mokuba fidgeted from foot to foot. He scratched his head.

“So. Um. Where’s your horn?” He asked, “Don’t unicorns have those?”

“It’s a long story,” Marik waved off, “Besides. Shouldn’t we be getting to why we’re here? Whether he’s a unicorn or not doesn’t matter if he can heal whatever it is were helping right?”

Mokuba puffed his lip up in a pout. He let out a sigh before turning on his heel and walking towards the end of the hall. They all took that as a sign to follow. When they did reach the end, however, he hesitated again.

“Alright. So. I suppose I should explain some things,” Mokuba said, “But. For now. Please just come see. But if any of you act suspicious at all, we’ll kill you.”

Bakura rolled his eyes at the threat. Unless there were a dozen soldiers on the other side of those doors ready to ambush them, he really doubted that the boy prince and his single guard could take them all on. Though he could feel Marik and Kek tense up.

The prince reached into his shirt, pulling out some sort of orb on the end of a chain around his neck. He held it up, the stone glimmering briefly before there was a loud ‘click’. The doors crept open.

They must’ve been in the center below the main hall, as the crystal ceiling high above them emitted a spotlight down. The circular room was bare except for the one raised, glass case in the center of the light. At first none of them could tell what it was. Mokuba and the guard stood aside, as if to wait for them to enter.

As they walked forward, Kek stayed to Ryo’s left, Marik his right. Bakura lingered behind them, keeping an eye out in case anything came close. He could definitely feel something about this room that was different. Ryo stopped a few feet away, letting out a soft gasp.

“What? What is it?” Kek asked. They all glanced forward, realizing that the glass wasn’t just a case. It was a coffin.

Inside was a tall man with chestnut hair and pale skin. Blue and silver armor adorned his body, his hands placed on his chest. Bakura noticed something gleaming between the man’s hands, and realized it was a similar looking orb that the prince had. Wilted flowers were all along the inside walls of the case

Ryo edged a little closer, hands hesitating as he tried to figure out what to do. 

“Aren’t you going to tell us what’s wrong with the corpse?” Bakura asked bluntly over his shoulder.

“I don’t think he’s dead,” Marik said lightly, taking a step towards Ryo’s side. He tapped on the glass with his knuckles, “Well. Can’t say he’s really alive though.”

Ryo continued to stare at the man’s face, though his expression was unreadable.

“So what is it a spell of some sort?” Kek asked. Marik shrugged his shoulders.

“Not sure. I know there are powerful sleeping spells out there. But he doesn’t seem to be… Sleeping.”

Bakura walked past the two and reached for the edge of the glass, “Well. If it’s not a spell it could be a curse. In which case there’s one way to find out-”

He started to lift the edge of the glass up, then realized it was too heavy. He grasped with two hands and tried to pry it off.

“Don’t think you’re going to get that off!” The prince shouted from behind them by the door, “You should be able to figure out what’s wrong! If not I’ll be sure to lock you four away for lying!”

“Wait. How is that fair?” Marik frowned, “You’re the one who dragged us all the way here. And who is this?”

The prince was about to respond, when his face suddenly turned pale. Both Bakura and Marik raised their brows before realizing he was looking past them. As they turned, they saw Ryo lift the glass up.

The whole world seemed to tilt. Bakura felt his breath choke in his throat as the air stiffened. 

He could faintly see Ryo still but everything twisted around them as he was flung from his own body. 

His vision faded and noise dulled.

Screams rang in his ears once again. Flames flashed against his eyes.

Before he could realize what was happening, the feeling went away within a blink of an eye. Almost like before, Bakura found himself staring up at the ceiling flat against his back.

Ryo popped in his vision, worry on his face as he tried to get the thief’s attention.

“… I’m… Fine,” he hoarsely said, wincing as he sat up. Ryo let out a sigh of relief, wandering over to Kek. Marik was sitting up holding his head. The glass coffin with the man continued to sit unchanging. 

“What the hell?” Kek hissed out, rubbing his head, “What was that?”

“What’s wrong, obviously!” Mokuba shouted, still standing from his spot at the entrance of the room. Kek growled under his breath, holding Ryo’s arm tightly.

“That wasn’t a normal spell though,” Marik said, slowly getting back up, “It didn’t even feel like regular magic.”

Ryo shook his head, his eyes falling to the floor.

“… _Not_ … _Human,”_ he said softly, “ _… Fae…”_

“Fae magic?” Bakura asked, then sighed deeply, “Well… This could be a problem.”

“Why? What’s that?” Marik asked. Ryo pursed his lips.

“Whatever it is, we can talk about it somewhere else and not next to the dead guy,” Bakura said, gaze hollow, “Hey! Brat! Can we go somewhere else that’s not cursed!”

“That’s ‘your majesty’!” The prince sneered, “And what’s wrong? Didn’t you figure it out yet? Or was all that talk before just a lie-”

The soldier whispered something again in his ear. He clicked his mouth shut before thinking. Eventually he let out a sigh.

“Alright. Come this way,” he said, leading the way out of the room. Bakura was quick to follow, wanting to get away from that wretched magic. Marik pausing before going after him. Kek turned to see Ryo still lingering behind, watching the man inside the glass. He sighed before taking Ryo’s hand, nudging him away.

~*~*~*~

Their group ended up in a parlor, tall windows stretching high and outlooking the ocean. Although there were chairs, they all felt too on edge to sit. 

Marik shuddered at the feeling from before. The way he could feel his own soul slip away was unnerving. And then after-

He shuddered again, feeling the burning of his middle scar throb again. He took a step closer to Ryo.

The prince paced back and forth, his heels clicking against the tiles. Eventually he stopped.

“Alright. What can you tell me? Why did nothing happen?” He asked Ryo. 

“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” Bakura frowned, “That wasn’t exactly normal magic back there.”

“Didn’t you notice? The little royal over there stayed out of the room for a reason,” Marik scoffed, “Should’ve known better. You knew that something would happen if we tried to open the glass didn’t you?”

Mokuba sighed, “I didn’t think you would actually _open_ it, or that you could. But it did at least confirm something for me.”

His eyes flicked back over to Ryo, “You. Why weren’t you affected.”

Ryo fidgeted his fingers together again nervously. Bakura watched him before his eyes widened a little.

“Gods this just keeps getting better,” he mumbled. Marik turned to the two of them.

“What? What is it?”

“Fae magic. It’s light magic, but not quite,” the thief explained, crossing his arm with a huff, “Fae are something like spirits or creatures that have a presence within nature. Typically. They’re not the type to consort with humans either. Something akin to demons in a way.”

Bakura’s frown got even deeper.

“They’re just as tricky to deal with. They seldom interact with humans, though they don’t exactly stay out of their way. Some will very purposefully lure humans into their realm, never to be seen again.”

“If that’s true why haven’t we seen any before? All this time and traveling we’ve seen more humans than anything,” Kek asked. Bakura pointed at Ryo.

“We have our own little protection charm here,” he said, “Unicorns tend to be in charmed lands that fae overlook. Any fae that we would’ve come across would hesitate attacking Ryo.”

Kek raised a brow.

“So? What’s the problem then?” Marik asked, “Clearly none of us there besides Ryo could even stand against that magic. So he should be able to do something right?”

Bakura was about to say something but Ryo grabbed his arm. The unicorn gestured with his eyes towards the guard and the prince. Bakura raised a brow before blinking and growing silent. It was always weird how the two of them were able to communicate silently, even after Bakura lost his demonic powers. Still, with Ryo unable to say anything, maybe there was a reason he wanted Bakura to keep quiet-

“So. There’s only one thing that I need to know,” Mokuba said as he got their attention again, “What can you do? You may have figured out what magic it is, but can you do anything about it? Will be able to lift the curse on- on him?”

All eyes turned to Ryo again. He fidgeted, hands running along his braid. He turned a bit more towards the windows.

“… _Time…”_ he said faintly, “ _Need… Time…”_

Mokuba nodded, “That’s all I need to know.”

He turned and started to walk out the room, his cape flapping a bit as he did, “Isono. Show them to the guest halls. Don’t let them out into the city though. We still have that other problem to take care of-”

“So what you’re not in a hurry to lift that spell or whatever? Let us back down there so we can get this over with,” Kek frowned. This time Marik raised a brow.

Mokuba turned around with snort, “Like I’m about to let any of you down there without any supervision. Be grateful I’m letting you wander about the palace as it is.”

With that, the little lord left the room. Isono let out a sigh.

“Forgive the young prince. He’s managing a lot right now,” he said, “Come along.”

Isono ushered them out the doors and into another hall. The guards around them paid no attention as they walked along. They took a different route than the one leading to the coffin room, walking where there were more people lingering. 

Marik let his eyes wander about. He never remembered having this many people in his palace, or even Kek letting anyone at all in before they merged their kingdoms. They couldn’t _all_ be servants.

“So is this festival thing big?” Marik asked, “Seems like an important event with so many around.”

The soldier leading them hesitated.

“It… Is one of the reasons my lord is rather stressed at the moment,” he said, “But I’m sure he can explain it to you at dinner.”

Marik sighed. So much for getting any information. Still, considering how they had been wandering about for the past year, unless the prince or his people posed a threat he didn’t see a reason why they should be in a hurry.

Isono guided them down more stairs until they reached a hall with double doors leading to another circular room. Doors lined the wall, all of which were closed.

“You may choose any of the rooms to stay in here,” Isono said, then cleared his throat, “One of the guards will come fetch you for dinner. So please don’t do anything too ‘troublesome’ until then.”

With that he turned and left. As soon as the doors closed, they all went for the furtherest room.

Inside it was large, with marble walls and floors and a bed towards the opposite side of where they stood. Cushions were strewn about in one sunk in area of the floor. Large windows leading out to a balcony stretched against an entire wall. Bakura strode over to it, pulling back the curtains.

“Time to explore,” he said, jiggling the window open.

“What? Can’t use the door like a regular person?” Marik asked. Bakura paid him no attention, eventually getting the window open. 

He walked out onto the balcony, then turned and came back inside.

“So. Might be a little harder than I thought,” he said, a look of disdain on his face. Marik raised a brow. He walked out onto the balcony, feeling the crisp ocean air flowing all around. Taking a few steps more, he saw why Bakura suddenly got cold feet.

They must’ve gone down quite some floors, as they were now on the underside of the cliff where part of the palace came out from. They were quite some ways up from the ocean, enough so that just looking over the edge made Marik dizzy.

“Suppose it makes sense,” Marik said, turning away, “They do seem to use flight for travel a lot here.”

He wandered back inside the room. Kek had taken to lying on the cushions, staring up at the ceiling, Ryo still standing by the door.

“… What’s wrong?” Marik asked the unicorn. Ryo’s lips fumbled together. He shook his head, closing the door of the room and sliding down against it. 

“He’s…” Bakura mused over his words, “There’s a bit of a problem.”

“Yeah no shit,” Kek said, his eyes flicking over to the thief, “What was it that you weren’t telling us back there?”

Bakura ran a hand through his hair. He strode over and sat on one of the larger cushions, practically sinking into it.

“So. The thing is with this fae magic is that it’s like Ryo’s magic,” he said, “But. _That’s_ the problem.”

“Why?” Marik asked walking over, “Isn’t that a good thing. We know what it is.”

Bakura sighed as he leaned back a little, “No. Marik. That’s not a good thing. For one, we don’t even know what spell it is. I mean, even if you still had that little book of spells from before, I’m pretty sure there was nothing in it mentioning fae at all.”

Marik scratched his cheek. That was true. There were only so many creatures inside. Even the section on unicorns had a torn page in it, though apparently that was because of the previous king of the west. 

“Alright. I see your point,” Marik said, “So we may not know what the spell was, but Ryo can try at least right?”

He looked to the unicorn, who had drawn up his legs and put his face into his arms.

“Maybe…?” Bakura said, “There’s a better chance of Ryo strengthening the spell than lifting it, especially if he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Ryo let out a small sigh. Bakura sat up a little, “Not that you _don’t_ know what you’re doing!”

Kek threw a cushion at the thief’s face.

“You’re making it worse,” he snapped, “Gods. Let’s just sneak out now and be done with it.”

Ryo perked up and let out a small croak. Kek rosed up onto his forearm.

“… Don’t tell me you want to actually try and help the little bastard and the dead guy.”

Ryo thought before shrugging his shoulders. Kek frowned, flopping on his back again. He paused before turning over to Ryo.

“… You didn’t see anything did you?” He asked, “When that magic came out.”

Ryo pursed his lips, shaking his head. Marik couldn’t help but shudder. He hadn't seen anything, but he certainly _heard_ something. Marik glanced towards Bakura, noticing how stiff he seemed at the mention of the magic. Kek got up and walked over to Ryo.

“Well… If helping that dead guy out means you’ll go through it I’d rather we take our chances with sneaking out,” Kek said. He crouched down in front of the other, tilting Ryo's chin up.

“You know that if none of us can stand it, you might be facing whatever is going on with that guy alone.”

Ryo winced, his eyes falling. He took a hold of Kek’s hand, cradling it next to his face.

“… Well. We could at least look around and see if there are any clues,” Marik suggested, "At the very least to get the bottom of what this spell is."

“What? You mean wander around the palace?” Bakura asked, now trying to flop out of the cushion, “What makes you think they’ll let us?”

“I’m sure they have other things to worry about than watch us,” Marik said. He actually _would_ rather stay and rest a little more. Traveling made him more tired after going through the infernal realm, and being able to stay in a palace of all places was something he was half looking forward to (even if it did involve helping a bratty little prince). 

Still, that fae magic wasn’t like regular magic, or even like Diva’s memory magic. And if it could do something like slip their souls away, there was no telling what else it could do. They needed to figure out what it was.

Bakura grumbled as he followed after the three, who had wandered out. Kek seemed on edge as he half led the way. They had gone through three halls and two sets of stairs before Marik stopped.

“… Didn’t we pass by that door already?” He asked pointing at a rather ornate mahogany door. Kek just grunted to him, still looking ahead even as they all halted.

“I’m pretty sure a lot of the doors look the same,” Bakura shrugged. He paused before going over and opening it. Marik grabbed the handle and slammed it shut.

“What are you _doing_?”

“Looking around.”

“What you're looking for is more treasure,” Marik said, then waved his hand, “Sorry I brought it up in the first place. I’m probably just seeing things.”

Bakura opened the door again, peeking inside. After a moment he closed it.

“Well there’s nothing in there,” he said, “Another glass container. _Empty_ , I might add.”

Ryo tilted his head back and forth, making a small gesture with his hand suggesting it was storage. Kek ignored them, and started walking again.

The three trailed after, slowly seeing more windows appear as they traveled back up into the main part of the castle. However, even after getting back into the upper halls, finding anything helpful was harder than they thought.

“… Another closet,” Marik said, peeking into another room before shutting the door, “See. I don’t remember us passing by that last dragon statue.”

“We didn’t,” Kek said, tapping his foot, “We passed by a statue of _three_ dragons. Somewhere we went down the wrong hallway. There was a library somewhere close to the study we were in… I'm sure I saw-”

“Look! A pantry!” Bakura shouted from the end. Ryo ran over immediately. He let out a happy gasp as he ran inside.

“Hold on there you two!” Marik said hurrying over, “We’re trying to sneak around not leave a literal breadcrumb trail.”

“Don’t worry! Only snagging something for later!” Bakura said as he stumbled out with bottles of mead under one arm and a whole ham in his other, “Alright. Let’s go. Ryo! Let’s go!”

There wasn’t a response. Marik opened the door more. It was a rather large pantry, with a few shelves throughout the room and small windows high on the back wall. He walked in, smelling sweet fruit somewhere inside. He turned the last corner and saw Ryo.

“There you are. Let’s go,” he said. Ryo didn’t move. In fact, his shoulders were shaking. 

Marik raised a brow, walking up to his side. He froze when he realized what Ryo had found. 

There was a large jar sitting on one of the shelves, glowing white flowers inside. 

At first Marik couldn’t place where he had seen them before, figuring they were regular lilies. Only after a few seconds did his eyes widen in realization. 

“What’s the hold up?” Bakura asked from around the corner. He and Kek both came over when Marik gave them a look,  “What? What’s wrong?”

Ryo shakily pointed up, turning to them with a hollow look in his eyes. Both Kek and Bakura saw the jar. Bakura winced, and Kek tensed up.

“Alright. That does it,” Kek growled, seizing Ryo’s hand and tugging him back, “Whatever they’re trying to pull here, we’re not staying! Let’s go-”

Ryo tugged his hand free and ran back. He grabbed the jar and fled out the room.

“W-Hold on Ryo!” Marik shouted, the three fleeing after. Already things were looking suspicious with what happened in the woods, but now things were becoming a little _too_ convenient. And at this rate the last thing they needed was Ryo running around in this place.

As soon as the three piled out of the pantry, Ryo bumped into someone at the end of the hall, nearly knocking them down. He let out a small apology. The group hurried over.

“Ah! Wh- Oh! You’re Mokuba’s guests,” the soldier said, a younger guy with brown hair. He glancing at them all, “I was looking for you all. Dinner is about to begin and his majesty would like to-is that a whole ham?”

All eyes went to Bakura. He slid it behind his back. Ryo started to push the jar towards the guard in a hurried manner. 

“ _Where_?” He said, “ _… Where… Did…?”_

The guard raised a brow, “I don’t-"

“He wants to know where you got those,” Bakura said, trying his best to shove the bottles of mead into his pockets with no success. The soldier raised a brow before looking back to Ryo. He scratched the back of his neck.

“Well. I’m just one of the castle patrol. I don’t really journey outside of the palace,” he said, “But those look like the flowers that come from the south towards the village of the elves. Didn’t you pass by there? Those make a nice healing tea-”

Kek strode over and took a hold of the soldier’s shirt, nearly yanking him off the ground.

“Listen here,” he hissed out, “If you’re all trying to pull something-“

The soldier slapped his hand away with a surprising amount of force. Both Marik and Bakura stared in surprise at his boldness. 

“Look. I’m just here to find you all and bring you to dinner,” he said, “Don’t kill the messenger. Besides. Everyone knows mourning lilies come from the light of the moon.”

Marik blinked. Bakura snorted.

“Is that what mortals call them? That’s interesting,” he said, nudging Ryo with his elbow. The unicorn hadn’t budged, still staring at the soldier with the jar clenched in his hands.

“Anyway,” the soldier shrugged a bit, “The dining hall is this way. Though it looks like you’re already set.”

The soldier didn’t bother to try and take back the things Bakura stole, or even the jar that Ryo held. As he took the lead down the hall, he did keep a bit of a distance away from Kek. Marik slid up to the assassin’s side.

“Don’t worry about it,” Marik whispered, “I’m sure if we just play nice the prince will give us some answers. One way or another.”

Kek grunted, eyes still staring ahead, “Don’t tell me you’re planning on using magic to persuade the little brat. I doubt a trick like that would work. Besides, you should've tried something earlier in the woods before we got dragged into this mess.”

“Please. With all those guards around us there was no way of even coming close to the prince,” Marik scoffed, “Still. I bet if we’re left with him for just a _little_ while we can get some answers without your usual methods.”

With how everything had been going for the past day, there was a better chance of Kek straight up trying to kill the prince than sit quietly at dinner. And Marik had a feeling if Ryo hadn’t been so adamant about wanting to help, Kek would’ve by now. If they were lucky, they could all at least get through one meal without having to worry about any fights.

The guard stopped outside of two doors, hesitating to knock before opening it.

All around the room there were people flying about, casting spells that sparked off light in all directions. From the other side of the room a small band was playing reverent music. They all started to slow for a moment, as if distracted by the guests, before going faster than before. At first it seemed like they might've been fighting, but the longer they stood there it became apparent that it was some sort of performance.

Marik watched with fascination as some of them used the same metal packs that sprouted wings of varying shapes and colors. They moved with a grace that spoke of years of flight in a way that Bakura used to when he was a demon. The soldier who guided them tried to clear his throat over the noise to no success.

“No no no! You all need to go higher!” Mokuba shouted, causing them all to halt mid air, “You’re supposed to show off the magi-technology! Not just glide around!”

“My lord, everyone is tired,” Isono said from Mokuba's side, “They’ve been at it since the sun started to set. I’m sure if they took a break they could start again by the end of the second course.”

Mokuba frowned deeply before sitting down with a huff, “Fine. But make sure that the third group with the light blue wings come in towards the end. Seto would’ve liked that.”

The soldier cleared his throat a bit louder. Mokuba and Isono looked over.

“Ah. About time Honda!” Mokuba said, “We’ve already gone through the first course! How long does it take to find the guest chambers?”

The guard cleared his throat. “Can’t find them if they’re not there.” 

He stood a little taller with an annoyed look before turning to usher the four in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will probably update this once every two weeks but we'll see irl stuff is popping up again in a good way but luckily I have the whole story draft written and just need to fine tune alot of deets


End file.
